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5 things you might not know about clock towers in the GTA

Life churns and the city changes. Streets are torn apart for new ones; dead factories crumble to make way for skyscrapers.

Yet some things stay the same. Like clock towers.

Formerly part of a CPR station, the 140-foot limestone clocktower at Summerhill now overlooks an LCBO and coffee shop. (Alex Ballingall / Toronto Star)

Perhaps Toronto's most recognizable clock tower, the structure was built in 1899 in a Romanesque revival style. (Alex Ballingall / Toronto Star)

The clock tower outside the Etobicoke Civic Centre also serves as a memorial to locals lost in World War I and II. When a Star reporter visited this week, it was ahead by nearly an hour and a half. (Alex Ballingall / Toronto Star)

The clock on the facade of the East York Civic Centre was behind by eight minutes when observed by a Star reporter this week. (Alex Ballingall / Toronto Star)

Built in 1891, the clocktower at Upper Canada College can be seen from the south along Avenue Rd., and stands at the centre of the elite private school. (Alex Ballingall / Toronto Star)

These sentries of time have stood tall for decades, serving as landmarks in space and time and symbols of civic grandeur. In honour of these enduring timekeepers, here are five things you might not know about clock towers in the GTA.

They’re everywhere.

You’ll see them looming over municipal buildings in Etobicoke and East York, peering out from atop red brick fire halls near Kensington Market and the Beach, studiously ticking away at the University of Toronto and Upper Canada College — even loitering behind a movie theatre near Mel Lastman Square.

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So yes, you have a clock in your pocket, and if you’re more old school, on your wrist as well. But from Mississauga to the eastern fringes of Scarborough and up into Vaughan, you don’t have to look too far to find a tower to tell you the time.

They’re not always right.

A Star reporter recently drove around on a clock tower tour, and found that two of the nine Toronto towers visited had clocks that were wrong. The tall white tower outside the Etobicoke Civic Centre was nearly an hour and a half ahead, while its counterpart on the brick façade of the East York Civic Centre was eight minutes behind.

“I notice it,” said Shahid Ali, who often passes by the East York centre after work. “It should be right. I usually check on my watch and notice it’s weird.”

Looks like clock towers can have wandering hands; the Internet-connected timekeeper on your phone might be more reliable.

They’re still being built.

Anachronisms, they ain’t: clock towers remain a well-used architectural flourish, according to Robert Hill at Toronto’s KPMB.

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Hill’s firm designed the award-winning Vaughan City Hall, a modern civic building that was finished in 2011 and includes a 130-foot clock tower.

“It’s a fitting and appropriate symbol of civic government and civic pride,” said Hill. “These towers are part of our rich architectural heritage in Canada extending back into the mid-19th century, and this tradition is continued today.”

Other more modern clock towers also include those at Mississauga City Hall (1987) and Brampton City Hall (1989).

They’re not just about telling the time.

Meg Graham, a principal with Roncesvalles architects, Superkül, said the purpose of a clock tower has evolved over the years.

“We preserve them maybe not for their functionality, but their ability to orient us in a different way,” said Graham. Previously thought of as simple indicators of time, towers such as the Romanesque revival structure at Old City Hall are now beacons that can be used to situate ourselves, and symbols of civic tradition, said Graham.

“In a beautiful way reminds us that we’re part of a bigger flow of time than the one we carry in our pockets.”

You can live in one.

You don’t have to be a hideous Quasimodo to live in a clock tower. You just need $499.

That’ll get you one night behind the glass face of the clock tower at 700 King St., on the northwest corner of the intersection with Bathurst St.

Advertized on Airbnb, the condo boasts views of the city through the 12-foot windows of the clock tower. The original structure dates back to the early 20th century, when the building housed a piano factory.

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